Sunday 15/February/2026 – 06:07 AM
Reza Pahlavi, the son of the ousted Shah of Iran and an Iranian opposition leader, said that US military intervention in Iran could “save lives,” calling on the administration of US President Donald Trump not to waste time negotiating with the Iranian authorities over the nuclear agreement.
In an interview with Reuters on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, where Iranian government officials are prohibited from attending, Pahlavi considered that there are indications of the imminent collapse of the Iranian government, and that any military attack may weaken it or accelerate its fall. He added: “It is a matter of time. We hope that this attack will accelerate the process and that people will finally be able to return to the streets and move forward until the regime eventually falls.”
His statements come in light of a mass arrest campaign launched by the Iranian authorities last month, which resulted in the arrest of thousands in an attempt to deter further protests, after a wave of unrest described as the most violent since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The report indicated that the Iranian opposition is still divided between competing ideological groups and factions, including royalists who support Pahlavi, while President Trump, in a previous interview with Reuters, questioned the amount of support Pahlavi enjoys inside Iran.
The Trump administration reached out to Iran through indirect talks in the Sultanate of Oman last week, and more are expected to be held soon, at a time when Washington is mobilizing its military forces in the region.
Pahlavi said, “People hope that a decision will be made that there is no point in negotiations, and that the time has come for American intervention to support the people.”
On Friday, Trump told US forces in North Carolina that Iran is “difficult in nuclear negotiations,” hinting that spreading fear in Tehran may be necessary to resolve the crisis.
Reuters quoted American officials as saying that the US military is preparing for the possibility of launching a military operation that could last for weeks if Trump issues orders to do so.
